It's official: George W. Bush will be the first president since Herbert Hoover to lose jobs

The New York Times reports:

"It's official. President Bush will be the first president since Herbert Hoover to face re-election with fewer people working than when he started.

No president may have more than an indirect influence on unemployment, and Mr. Bush had the bad luck to take office in January 2001, just before the economy was about to slide into a recession.

Still, despite the stimulus from three rounds of tax cuts, a spectacular expansion of the federal budget deficit and enormous assistance from the Federal Reserve, which slashed interest rates 13 times, the nation has at least 585,000 fewer jobs now than when Mr. Bush took office."

The Times also reports, "The only demographic group with more members at work than in 2001 are those age 65 and older who decided to postpone retirement."